Latching mechanism



Aug. 22, 1933. F. ALBACH ET AL 1,923,903

LATCHING MECHANISM Filed May 14. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l- ATTORNEY Aug. 22, 1933. F. ALBACH ET AL 1,923,903

LATCHING MECHANISM Filed May 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Array/v12? Patented Aug 22, 1933 PATENT OFFICE LATCHING MECHANISM Frank Albach and George R. Chervenka, St. Louis, Mo assignors to Fred Medart Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., a Corporation of Missouri Application May 14, 1931. Serial No. 537,308

8 Claims. (Cl. 292-48) ulative means co-operable with the latching means; the provision of latching mechanism in-- eluding a lever operable for automatic engagement, on closure of the door, with a co-operable keeper, and means operable and effective in any position of the door, that is to say, whether the door be in open or closed position, for securing the lever against release or unlatching actuation; and the provision of latching mechanism of relatively simple and inexpensive structure, which may be readily mounted on the door, which may be conveniently manipulated, and which is efficient in the performance of its intended purposes.

And with the above and other objects in view, our invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings (two sheets) Figure 1 is an inside elevational view of a door and a fragmentary partially sectional view of a portion of the casing therefor, equipped with latching mechanism embodying our invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail View of the door and casing of Figure 1, some of the intermediate portions thereof being broken away and other parts shown in section;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately along the line 33,, Figure 2, the latching-mechanism being shown in door-latching position; 1

Figure 4 is a'fragmentary similar view showing the latching-mechanism in door-unlatching position;

Figure 5 is enlarged fragmentary perspective detail view of one of the latch-levers carried by the latch-bar of the mechanism, the'lever being shown in the act of engaging a keeper;

Figure 6 is a horizontal fragmentary sectional view taken approximately along the line 6--6, Figure 2; and

Figure '7 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing the'lever in the actof engaging the keeper.

Referring now more in detail and by reference characters to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of our invention, A designates an apertured frame or casing adapted for closure by a preferably hinged or swingable door B, presently described. The frame or casing A, in the preferred use of our invention, forms part of a clothes-locker, cabinet, or the like (not fully shown), and of the casing A merely the upright member or jamb 1 which opposes the free margin of the door B when closed is here illustrated.

Fixed on the inner face of the casing-'jamb 1 in suitably spaced relation therealong, as best seen in Figure 1, is one or more, preferably three, angular brackets 2, and projecting preferably integrally from the respective brackets 2 to reside approximately in the door-opening of the frame or casing A, are forwardly presented keepers 3 each approximately in the form of a hook having an upwardly presented latch-receptive notch 4 and being preferably beveled, as shown, along the forward vertical margin of its bill 3'. Each bracket 2, it might be here added, also supports 21. depending yieldable stop or buffer 5 adapted for limiting and cushioning the swingable movement of the door B to closed position.

In the present embodiment of our invention, the door B is formed along its free margin of its body-panel with a channeled vertical rail 6 having an inturned flange '7, as shown, providing a housing for efficiently enclosing the latchingmechanism for the door B, the flange 7 being suitably-longitudinally slotted or apertured, as at '7, for accommodating the keepers 3 on movement of the door B to closed position. c

Having longitudinal slots 8 working over rivets 9 suitably engaged in the rail 6 and disposed for slidable movement between the inside face of the rail 6 and angle retaining washers 9' carried by the rivets 9, is a vertically shiftable latch-bar 10, and formed or disposed along one margin of the bar 10, is a flange 10' residing adjacent to, and correspondingly apertured for co-operation with, the flange 7 of the rail 6.

At preferably its upper end, the latch-bar 10 is yieldingly engaged by a leaf spring 11 supported suitably from an upper part of the door B for biasing the latch-bar 10 in normally lowered latching position, a stop or buffer 12 being carried by the bar. 10 at its lower end for impinging a lower part of the door for limiting the downward movement of the latch-bar.

Disposed on the latch-bar 10 at positions normally corresponding to, and for latching cooperation with the respective notches 4 of, the keepers 3, is a like number of oscillatory or rockable latch- 10 members 13, each preferably comprising a rectilinear plate having an intermediate bend 14 providing a rocker-bearing on the bar 10 and a groove 14' opposite thereto engaging by a transverse pin 15 supported through the eye of an eyebolt 16 projecting from the latch-bar 10 through a slot 17 traversing the groove in the plate 13. At one end, each respective latch-plate 13 is yieldingly engaged and biased by a leaf-spring 18 mounted on the latch-bar 10, and at its other end each respective latch-plate 13 is provided with a detent or laterally projecting tongue 19 normally urged by the spring 18 toward the bar 10 for engagement with an interposed keeper 3. The tongue or catch 19 has a cam face, as at 20, adapted when the bar 10 is in normal lowered or latching position, for co-operation with the beveled bill 3' of the keeper 3 on closing movement of the door B, as best seen in Figure 7, for oscilating or rocking the latch 13. Thus the tongue or catch 19 is moved or laterally shifted, on closing of the door B, crosswise of the slot 7 and in a path transverse to the plane of the presented keeper 3 for first sliding on and over the bill of the keeper 3 (Figure 5), the catch 19 subsequently springing or extending into latching engagement with the keeper 3 sidewise at its notch 4 when the door B is closed (Figures 3 and 6).

Disposed preferably at an intermediate point on the free margin of the door B, is a handle or manipulative-member 21, the hub 22 of which is suitably mounted for rotary movement in and through a bearing provided in the front-plate 23 of the door B. Fixed on the hub 22 and disposed on the inner face of the door B, is an arm 24 having a bifurcated free end 25 co-operable with apin 26 projecting from the flange 10' of the latchbar 10 for shifting or lifting the bar 10, on rotary movement of the handle 21, from normal lowered or latching position to raised or doorunlatching position, the several latch plates or levers 13, on such movement of the bar 10, being bodily shifted out of the plane of the keepers 3 for consequently non-rockably disengaging the several catches 19 from the respective notches 4 of the keepers 3 for unlatching the door B from the frame or casing A for opening movement.

It will thus be seen that, on suitable manipulation of the handle 21, the latch-bar 10 may be shifted for disposing the tongues or catches 19 alternately into and out of notch-cooperable position for respectively latching and unlatching the door. It will be noted, however, that the springpressed latch levers 13 are normally, on closure of the door B, disposed for automatic latching extension of their carried catches 19 into the notches 4 without shifting the latch-bar 10, although the door B may not be unlatched except by positive manipulation of the handle 21 for shifting the latch-bar 10, as described.

For locking the bar 10 against shiftable movement and thereby also locking the door B in its casing A, we provide on the door B a lock-casing 27 having a preferably key-actuable bolt 28 cooperable, when extended from the lock-casing 27, with a suitable radial projection 29 on the arm 24, the projection 29 impinging the projected bolt 28 on attempted manipulation of the handle 21 from normal door-latching position. The projection 29, however, is adapted to move under the bolt 28 when retracted for both permitting the handle 21 to be moved to door-unlatching position and preventing extension of the bolt 28 from the lock-casing 27 when the handle 21 is in such door-unlatching position. Such bar locking means is'operable whether the door B be in open or closed position, the several latch-levers 13 automatically engaging the respective keepers 3 on closure of the door B even through the latch-bar 10 be so locked in its normal or doorlatching position. The catches 19, on such engagement with the keepers 3, automatically first swing away from the bar 10 as the keepers 3 are interposed between the latch-levers 13 and the bar 10, and then swing toward the bar 9 for entering the keeper notches 4, such movement of the catches 19 being, as will be seen, crosswise of the slots 7 and in an are or path transverse to the path of movement of the bar 10. The latches 13, however, may not be shifted out of engagement with the keepers 3 except when the bar 10 is free and on elevating movement thereof, when as will be observed, the latch-levers 13 are lifted out of engagement with the respective keepers 3, the tongues or catches l9 meanwhile remaining in their pivotally swung position toward the bar 10.

Additionally, for locking the door B in closed position by means operable directly on the latchbar 10, we provide an angular dog 30 intermediately pivotally mounted on the bar 10, the dog 30 having on a swingable end an eye 31 normally, that is, when the bar 10 is in lowered latching position, extended through a slot 32 in the doorplate 23 for projection suitably from the outer face of the door B to receive the shackle of a padlock (not shown). The dog 30 at another end has an arcuate cam-finger 33 co-operable with the walls of, and working in, an aperture or slot 34 provided also in the door-plate 23 for retracting the eye 31 through the slot 32 on upward door-unlatching movement of the bar 10 (Figure 4). however, through the eye 31, such movement of the bar 10 for unlatching the door B will be prevented by impingement of the padlock-shackle with the door plate 23.

Our invention is especially, though not exclusively, adapted for use in connected with clotheslockers or the like, wherein it is desirable that the door be latched at a plurality of points to the casing, the advantages of our improved construction residing, among others, in the quietness and celerity with which the door may be closed for automatically latching itself in the casing, and also in the manner in which the latching mechanism may be locked against unlatching movement whether the door be in open or closed position.

We might also point out that, in the embodiment shown, the catch 19 of the latch 13 enters the notch 4 in one or a lateral direction and is disengaged therefrom in another or vertical direction, the latter being hence right-angularly to the former, but these relative movements of the catch may be modified so as, for example, to be in the same plane, if such be more suitable for the purpose at hand. And it will be understood that other changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the mechanism may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. Door latching means including a bar, a plate A padlock shackle being projected.

having an intermediate transverse bend providjecting through said slot, a pin carried by the eye-bolt for engaging said groove for securing the plate for rocking movement on the bar, a lateral tongue on one end of said plate, and a spring engaging the bar and the other end of the plate for biasing the tongue toward the bar.

2. Door latching means including a. bar, a plate having an intermediate transverse bend provid- Y ing a rocker-bearing and a groove opposite thereto, said plate also having a slot traversing said groove, an eye-bolt supported by the bar projecting through said slot, a pin carried by the eye-bolt for engaging said groove for securing the plate for rocking movement on the bar, a lateral tongue on one end of said plate having a camface, and a spring engaging the bar and the other end of the plate for biasing the tongue toward the bar, in combination with a fixed keeper having a marginal portion for co-operation with the cam-face of the latch for oscillating the same and having a notch for engagement with the tongue.

3. In combination with a door, latching mechanism including a shiftable latch-bar on the inner face of the door, a dog pivotally mounted on the bar having an eye disposed on the outer face of the door for accommodating a pad-lock shackle for engagement with the door for securing the bar against shiftable movement, and a cam on the dog co-operable with the door on shifting movement of the bar for retracting the eye of the dog on removal of the shackle.

4. Latching mechanism for use with a casing having an opening, a door hinged to the casing for closure of the opening, and a co-operable keeper fixed on the casing and forwardly presented endwise into said opening, the latch mechanism comprising, with a rail presented laterally from and extending along a margin of the door and having an intumed slotted flange disposed in spaced parallel relation to the door, a latchmember yieldingly rockable intermediate the door and flange, and a tongue presented laterally from the latch-member toward the rail and swingable, on rocking movement of the latchmember, crosswise of the slot, the keeper having a recessed portion for entering endwise through the slot of the flange for rocking the tongue on closing of the door and for receiving the tongue for latching the door when in closed position.

5. Latching mechanism for use with a casing having an opening, a door hinged to the casing for closure of the opening, and a co-operable keeper fixed on the casing and forwardly presented endwise into said opening, the latch mechanism comprising, with a rail presented laterally from and extending along a margin of the door and having an inturned slotted flange disposed in spaced parallel relation to the door, a bar disposed flatwise on the inner face of the rail, a latch-member pivoted intermediate its ends on the bar for rockable movement intermediate the door and flange, atongue presented laterally from an end-portion of the latch-member and swingable, on rocking movement of the latch-member, crosswise of the slot, and a spring engaging the bar and the other end-portion of the latch-member for yieldingly urging the tongue toward the bar, the keeper having a recessed portion for entering endwise through the slot of the flange for rocking the tongue on closing of the door and for receiving the tongue for latching the door when in closed position.

6. Latching mechanism for use with a casing having an opening, a door hinged to the casing for closure of the opening, and a co-operable keeper fixed on the casing and forwardly presented endwise into the opening, the latch mechanism comprising a latch-member yieldingly rockable relatively to the door, a tongue presented laterally from the latch-member, the keeper having a recessed portion for endwise engaging the tongue for rocking the latch-member on closing of the door and for removably receiving the tongue for latching the door when in closed position, the latch-member being bodily shiftable for removably disengaging the tongue from the keeper for unlatching the door, and means for bodily shifting the latch-member.

'7. Latching mechanism for use with a casing having an opening, a door hinged to the casing for closure of the opening, and a co-operable keeper fixed on the casing and forwardly presented endwise into said opening, the latch mechanism comprising a bar shiftable endwise on the inner face of the door, a latch-member pivoted on the bar for rocking movement, a tongue presented angularly from the latch-member, resilient means engaging the latch-member for yieldingly urging the tongue toward the bar, the keeper having a recessed portion for endwise engaging the tongue for rocking the latch-member on closing of the door and for removably receiving the tongue for latching the door when in closed position, the tongue being removably disengaged from the keeper for unlatching the door on bodily shiftable movement of the latch-member, and means for actuating the bar for bodily shifting the latch-member.

8. Latching mechanism for use with a casing having an opening, a door hinged to the casing for closure of the opening, and a co-operable keeper fixed on the casing and forwardly presented endwise into said opening, the latch mechanism comprising a bar flatwise presented on the inner face of the door for endwise shiftable movement, means for yieldingly retaining the bar in normal door-latching position, a latch-member pivoted for yielding rocking movement on the bar for keeper-engagement when the bar is in normal position, the keeper having a marginally recessed portion for, when the bar is in normal position, rocking the latch-member on closing of the door and then removably receiving the latchmember for latching the door when in closed position, the latch-member being removably lifted from the keeper for unlatching the door on shiftable movement of the bar, means 'for shifting the bar out of normal position for bodily shifting the latch-member, and means actuable in any position of the door for locking the bar in normal position, while leaving the latch-member free for normal operation.

FRANK ALBACH. GEORGE R. CHERVENKA. 

